Patch
by NiffAreForever
Summary: The tiny creature in front of him gazed up with big brown eyes, wearing almost exactly the same expression as Mitchell at that precise moment. In fact, Anders was pretty sure that the bunny rabbit in front of him was a distant relation of the vampire's because they had exactly the same eyes as well.


**A/N: More fluff for this fandom because sometimes I think that we need fluff :)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Being Human and I do not own The Almighty Johnsons.**

* * *

In hindsight, maybe Mitchell should have planned the surprise a little better in the first place, but he had been stressing over Anders' birthday present for a long time; the day itself had arrived and he still didn't have a gift for his boyfriend. He just couldn't think of a single suitable idea and had even had to resort to asking Ty and Dawn for suggestions, but they hadn't been particularly helpful either.

However, Mitchell had woken on the morning of Anders' birthday to find that the blond was already up and out of bed, though he curiously couldn't hear much from the living room apart from a quiet mumbling. Had Anders gotten up early on his birthday to go and talk to _himself_?

The vampire swung his legs out of bed and located some shorts before wandering into the rest of the apartment to see where his boyfriend had got to. To his surprise, he discovered him crouched in front of the fish tank, murmuring something to the fish inside as they swam about. Now, it wasn't exactly unusual for Anders to talk to his fish since he was very attached to them, but this was the first time that Mitchell had caught him having an actual conversation with them, albeit a rather one-sided one.

"Whatever it is that you guys are engrossed in, it sounds riveting," he said, casually leaning against the bedroom doorframe and making the blond god in front of him jump in surprise.

"Thanks for the warning," Anders said, once he'd recovered.

"So, what did the fish say?" Mitchell asked as his boyfriend got up from his crouched position and crossed the room towards him.

Anders raised one eyebrow at him.

"Don't mock me," he said, "They understand me."

It was Mitchell's turn to raise an eyebrow.

"And I don't?"

"Of course you do, but maybe I was talking to them about you," Anders teased, grinning at him.

The vampire scoffed.

"You were gossiping about me to your fish?"

Anders chuckled.

"Of course not," he said, clearly trying to sound as innocent as possible. "Now, where's my early morning birthday present?"

Mitchell smirked and grabbed his boyfriend's hand, dragging him quickly into their bedroom and slamming the door shut.

He didn't want the fish to see anything, obviously.

* * *

When both men finally emerged again sometime later, they fell into the shower together before Anders decided that he really did have to go to work and spent the next half an hour searching valiantly for his misplaced dark blue tie. Mitchell found it mere seconds after the other man explained what he was looking for, but the vampire decided not to mention where the article of clothing had been residing.

"How come you've decided to voluntarily go to work on your birthday?" he asked, watching as Anders picked up his car keys and phone before heading for the door.

"Dawn said that Ty was coming round with a cake for me and that if I wasn't at the office today, then they'd both turn up uninvited round here this evening," the blond said, "And since I wanted to spend that time with only you, I thought I'd rather be safe than sorry. Don't worry, I'll come home as soon as I can." He winked for good measure.

He was just reaching for the handle of the front door when Mitchell's emphatic clearing of his throat halted him, and he turned around to find the vampire glaring at him pointedly. Sighing, he crossed the room again and leaned up to place a kiss on the other man's lips. Mitchell grinned into the kiss and wrapped his arms around Anders' waist until the shorter man pulled away.

"See you later," he promised, "And be good."

"Aren't I always?" Mitchell gave him a disarming smile. "Happy birthday, Anders, I'll give you your actual present later."

The blond god smirked at him.

"I'm looking forward to it," he returned, and then he opened the door and was gone.

Mitchell turned around and sighed heavily. Had he just promised to give Anders his present later when he didn't even have a present for him? Yes, yes he had. Now he'd have to go shopping, and he was in no mood to trawl through the crowds that would likely be also out in the streets.

He looked across at the fish, swimming contentedly through the various pieces of tank ornaments that he'd bought Anders at certain points, just to liven the tank up a little. If only the fish could talk, maybe they could give him some ideas for Anders' present.

And that's when it hit him and he was pretty sure in that moment that he'd just had the best idea possible. Though maybe, in hindsight, he should have thought a little harder before he grabbed his keys from the work surface and dashed out of the door.

* * *

It was mid-afternoon by the time that Anders returned from his office, having had to suffer through two rounds of Happy Birthday since the first time had gone awry when Dawn insisted that Ty wasn't singing with enough enthusiasm and had made him start again. The only thing that Anders could think that could have been worse would have been if Ty had turned up with their entire family in tow, and he'd had to watch Mike struggle through wishing him a happy birthday.

Still, when he got back to the apartment, nothing could have prepared him for the sight that would greet him. The first thing he saw was his boyfriend sitting on the sofa, his eyes fixed intently on a decent sized cardboard box perched on the coffee table, before the cardboard box actually gave a jump, there was a scratching noise and the whole thing shifted a few centimetres.

Mitchell cooed at it, Anders swore rather loudly.

"Oh, hey!" the vampire turned towards him with a blinding smile as though nothing had happened, "Did you have a good day?"

"It was alright, I suppose," the blond god replied grudgingly; he'd most definitely had better.

"Well, maybe your present will cheer you up," Mitchell suggested, and to Anders' horror, he motioned towards the seemingly alive cardboard box.

"Really?" Anders looked sceptical, "What is it?"

"You're supposed to open it and find out, that's the point of a present," Mitchell rolled his eyes. "So go on, open it."

Hesitantly, Anders came to sit on the sofa beside his rather over-excited boyfriend and leaned forward to open the box. Upon closer inspection, he discovered that the box had small holes in it and there was a distinct shuffling noise from within; he was getting more and more suspicious with every minute.

As he was reaching for the flaps, Mitchell went completely still beside him, clearly so intent on hold his breath in anticipation that he had just decided to stop breathing entirely. Well, if that wasn't an overreaction, then Anders didn't know what was. It was just a present, wasn't it?

Carefully, the blond pulled the flaps open and peered inside, nearly squeaking in shock when he saw the contents, except, of course, he would never admit to squeaking, so he covered it up by swearing loudly instead.

"Don't say such filthy words," Mitchell chided quickly, "You'll corrupt the poor thing."

Anders gave him a disbelieving look and then turned back to the box.

"It's a bunny rabbit," he said slowly, "You bought me a pet rabbit for my birthday."

Mitchell nodded enthusiastically.

"Well," he said, "You've always said how much you loved animals as a child, and you love talking to your fish, so I thought that I'd get you a pet that would actually respond to you more than the fish do."

"Mitchell," Anders took a deep breath and started patiently, as though talking to a child. "What are we going to do with a rabbit? We live in an apartment, and we don't have a garden."

Mitchell dismissed the doubts with a wave of his hand.

"It's fine, we'll figure it out. So, can we keep her?"

"Mitchell," Anders said warningly.

"Please?" the vampire was really pouting now, and trying desperately to get his boyfriend to cave.

With a sigh, Anders turned back to the baby rabbit in the box.

The tiny creature in front of him gazed up with big brown eyes, wearing almost exactly the same expression as Mitchell at that precise moment. In fact, Anders was pretty sure that the bunny rabbit in front of him was a distant relation of the vampire's because they had exactly the same eyes as well.

"Maybe," he said finally, watching as his boyfriend gave a shout of delight at the fact that it wasn't a downright no and eagerly kissed his cheek as a thank you. "Does the rabbit have a name?"

"Her name's Patch," Mitchell said, "It's kind of obvious why."

Anders peered into the box again and took into account that the rabbit had one patch of black fur ringing her left eye.

"How original," he said dryly.

Mitchell grinned before jumping up from the sofa, much to the blond's surprise.

"Where are you going?"

"To work, my shift ends at six so I'll be back by half past. Have fun with Patch, babe."

And before Anders could respond, the vampire had kissed him goodbye and left him sitting in their living room with a rabbit in a cardboard box. He looked back at Patch, who kicked the box in an unspoken demand to be let out. Anders sighed for the countless time in the last fifteen minutes.

"Looks like it's just you and me for a few hours," he said.

* * *

When Mitchell finally went home that evening, he was slightly unsure as to what he might find. Patch could still be sitting in the box, or, worst case scenario, Anders had gone back on his 'maybe' and had taken her back to the pet shop already.

However, when he opened the door, much the same as that morning, he was met with the sound of Anders muttering supposedly to himself. Surely he wasn't talking to the fish again?

Instead, when he did venture inside, he found his boyfriend stretched out on his stomach on the floor, cuddling a very happy looking Patch to his chest and talking soothingly into her fur. It was actually a rather unnerving sight, even if it was one that Mitchell had been hoping for.

Still, he was struck by the urge to document the moment and so quickly slipped his phone out of his pocket, the one that Anders had bought for him but had so many functions that he hadn't been able to remember half of them. But fortunately he did know how to use the camera, and so he snapped a few photos of the blond god stretched out on the floor, and fumbled about setting the picture as his background for good measure.

"Are you going to stand there all evening?"

Mitchell's head jerked up at the amused sound of Anders' voice and he found the other man smirking at him from the floor, Patch just blinked innocently.

"And if you let anyone else see that photo, then I will not hesitate to get out that video of you attempting to do the washing up," the blond continued.

Mitchell opened his mouth to respond but then decided against it; he did not need to be reminded of that incident, especially since his boyfriend refused to delete the evidence.

Anders must have loosened his grip on the rabbit for a moment because suddenly she was off, scampering across the floor of the living room and towards the still open door behind the vampire. There were several seconds of frenzied rabbit-grabbing in an attempt not to let the little creature escape, before the situation ended with Mitchell cradling a fluffy bundle in his arms.

Anders was especially frustrated that his phone was on the counter, and therefore too far away to use to take a photo of the moment, because there just couldn't be anything more adorable than the sight of Mitchell with a rabbit burrowing into his jacket, the vampire's face almost split in two by the force of his grin.

Carefully, Mitchell manoeuvred himself onto the floor next to his boyfriend and Patch hopped happily across his lap to set her front feet up onto Anders chest and regard him curiously with her wide brown eyes.

The blond turned and looked at the vampire.

"Thank you," he said softly, one hand unconsciously stroking the top of Patch's head while the other sought out Mitchell's fingers to grasp them tightly. "And I'm sorry for being so ungrateful earlier."

Mitchell offered the god a forgiving smile. Anders' apologies were few and far between; to be given a genuine one was to realise that the blond truly meant what he was saying.

"It's alright," the vampire replied, "I just wanted you to have a good birthday."

"I have," Anders said, "And I hope it's not over yet." He nudged the other man's shoulder suggestively before drawing him in for a long kiss, only having to part when Patch began to get restless, squirming in Anders' lap in an attempt to get free and be able to explore.

The blond set the rabbit down onto the floor, keeping an eye out for wherever she went so that she didn't get into trouble or chew anything she shouldn't.

"You do realise that this is going to be difficult, trying to look after a rabbit despite the fact that we live in an apartment, right?" Anders looked over at his boyfriend. "She's going to want to go outside at some point, not to mention the fact that if we don't clean her out every few days, this place is going to smell awfully like the inside of a rabbit cage."

Mitchell made a face.

"I didn't really think about that," he said rather gloomily, "You're not going to suggest that we take her back now, are you?"

"Of course not," Anders replied, distracted for a moment by nudging Patch away from the television remote with his foot before retrieving the item and placing it on the coffee table. "I had thought of another solution though."

For a rare moment, he didn't look quite so sure of himself and so Mitchell wrapped an arm around his waist and pulled him closer, tucking his head comfortably onto his shoulder.

"It's just that JPR has been ticking along quite nicely recently," the god explained, "Really quite nicely, actually, and you've gotten a fair few shifts so the money's coming together, and so I was wondering whether we could think about getting an actual house. Not a large one, of course, there's only two of us, but I thought that it might be nicer to have a bit more space, and…" He didn't get to finish his sentence because the rest of it was lost somewhere in the moment between Mitchell's hands cupping his face and his cool lips pressing against his own.

"That sounds wonderful, love," the vampire said finally, "Of course we can start finding a house straight away."

Anders flushed a little at that and his boyfriend regarded him curiously.

"You've already found one, haven't you?" he said, to which the blond nodded sheepishly.

"I know I should have asked you first," he admitted, "But I saw it online and then again at the estate agents on the way home the other day, and it looks just right for us."

Mitchell grinned.

"I trust your judgement," he said, "We'd better book to go and view this house as soon as possible."

Anders matched the other man's grin with one just as bright.

"I love you, John," he said earnestly, "More than I ever thought I could love anyone."

"And I love you too, Anders," Mitchell returned, "Though I do have to point out that Patch is currently trying to eat one of your credit cards where it must have fallen out of your wallet."

In a flash, the blond was off the floor and wrestling the piece of plastic out of the rabbit's mouth before any damage could be done, and then came crawling back towards his boyfriend with Patch curled in the crook of his left elbow.

"I think it's time that we put the little one away in her cage," he said, looking meaningfully at Mitchell. "Where _did_ you hide her cage and her food by the way? I haven't been in the bedroom since this morning, so I take it that you hid the stuff in there."

The vampire just stared at him blankly.

"What?"

"The cage, Mitchell. Where's Patch's cage?"

Mitchell's brow furrowed in confusion.

"Wait, I was supposed to buy a cage as well?"


End file.
